Brooklyn Fair

Kathryn and I in front of some old cars at the Brooklyn Fair.

 After nearly six years of living here, we finally made it to the Brooklyn Fair.  I guess having kids does change you.  I'm just sorry it took us so long to go.  We had a really good time and ate lots of yummy fair food: sausage & peppers, fried dough, caramel apples, fresh lemonade and root beer.  I could tell Jared wasn't all that excited to go, but when we were all done, he said he had a really good time.  He said he'd been tainted by fair experiences when he lived in Colorado.  This one was fun.  It's the oldest agricultural fair in the nation.  We didn't get to see it all, because Kathryn was getting tired.  We did look at the cows though, but she had no desire to touch them.  I'm hoping she'll be more excited next year.  She was good though, as always, and crashed on our way home.  It was a gorgeous day weather wise and are hoping for great weather next weekend when we go to the Woodstock Fair. Yeah!  More fair food!

The Fair

Another fair view

I don't know these people, this is just another view.

She looks really enthused, huh?

Kathryn had no desire to touch the cow. Perhaps it was because we were so close to its butt!

Fried dough!

A name plate we got for Kathryn at the fair.

Bed Head

Kathryn's hair is coming in nicely.  As a side effect, she's starting to get bed head.

June Joyous

I got my first Cabbage Patch from Grandma Babi when I was about 4 o5 Tarin.  Tarin got Susan Alphabet and I got June Joyous.  Well, I still have her and I passed her onto Kathryn.  Kathryn loves June!

Hopefully she won't eat June!

June and Kathryn getting to know each other.

Piano Man and Baby

Jared was playing the piano tonight and Kathryn was watching him. I thought it was sweet.

Family Tree

I found this frame set at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $30.  I thought it was super cute and I finally hung it up with lots of the new pictures we got of Kathryn.  There are few older ones included too.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It looks nice on the wall and we can replace the pictures over the years.  I took down my little New England building collection to put up the frame collection.  I'll have to find a new home for my little buildings.  I'm thinking they'll look nice in the downstairs bedroom. 

Daycare Fun

Kathryn really enjoys going to daycare, which makes me feel better about sending her.  Ms. Becky is so good with the kids and Kathryn really enjoys all her friends there.  Kate & Levi are especially fond of her.  Becky also does really cute projects with the kids too.  The other day they made banana bread, which was really good.  I don't think Kathryn helped too much though. :-)

Just a little update...

I haven't been posting much lately because our lives have been pretty boring lately.  I go back to work tomorrow (much to my dismay) and Kathryn's been at daycare full time for two weeks now while I worked on my classroom. I think I'm ready for the new school year, but only time will tell.

Kathryn turned 9 months old yesterday and she is doing great!  She just loves to play and look around.  Here are some new photos of her (again...sorry for the crummy quality, they're taken with my cell phone).

She loves to move her head back and forth and smile.  She plays this with Jared.

Still smiley!

She loves to feed herself her puffs.

I could look at those blue eyes all day.

9 Months Old

I can't believe Kathryn is 9 months old today.  Where has the time gone?  She's growing up so fast and it's amazing to see how much she's changed since we first brought her home. I saw a newborn today and can hardly remember Kathryn ever being that small, yet I know she was.  She's busy crawling and trying to stand by herself (no teeth yet though!).  She's a beautiful little girl with the happiest smile and a personality that lights up a room.  We have truly been blessed with this little girl. 

I made a video montage to remember her first nine months, but for some reason, it won't post directly on the blog, so if you want to see it, go to:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY6LP7E0XfE

Facial Hair Wars

While Jared's facial hair has nothing to do with The Honeybaby, I wanted her to have a record of the torment her father puts me through on a regular basis.  Jared and I made a deal sometime back that if I allowed him to spend $400 on a piece of computer equipment he had to shave and do his hair every weekday.  He's pretty good about holding up his end of the bargain, although their have been some slip-ups, especially lately.  He claimed he was out of shaving cream and rather than driving the two miles to Target to get it, he let his sparse facial hair grow out into a gross "beard".  I use the term "beard" lightly because you can't really call it a beard.  It's just...well...it's just gross.  Anyway...he got shaving cream last night and when I saw the razor and cream on the sink this morning I figured he'd shaved.  When I got home from picking up Kathryn from daycare and running to the grocery store, Jared met us out front with a big grin on his face.  I immediately shouted, "What the hell is that on your face?"  I was gazing upon a perfectly manicured goatee.  This goatee took time and effort and for someone who says he has no time to shave, he spent a good deal of time on this masterpiece.  Now, the goatee is my one of my least favorite styles of facial hair, second only to the dreaded mustache.  After my exclamation, he says, "You wouldn't believe what happened to me today!"  I kept repeating, "What the hell is that?", obviously traumatized by the whole ordeal.  Once inside, he proceeds to tell me how the goatee came to be.  He claimed while on the way to work there was a large flash of light (due to the storm this morning) and the truck was struck my lightning.  He points to his face and says, "This is what happened after the truck was struck."  I just glared at him, telling him I was not amused and did not find the situation the least bit humorous.  He was pretty proud of himself.  I was just annoyed.  I think I'll stop shaving my arm pits in retaliation.   

The Goatee

Spitting Kate

Jared and Kathryn have a new tradition.  He spits then she spits.  This exchange can go on for minutes.  She loves doing it.  Here's just a sample:

Guilt of a Working Mom

Guilt.  That's what I feel.  I feel guilty when I have to put my daughter second because of my work.  I wish I didn't have to work, but I do and I'm trying to make the best of it.  Because of it though, I get frustrated with her when I shouldn't.  She's such an amazing baby and yet the few times she needs consoling, I get frustrated because I have other things I "have" to do, when all I should "have" to do is care for her.  We have a wonderful daycare provider, but I should be the one caring for her, not dropping her off with someone else while I go to work.  That is my life though and I hope Kathryn can understand someday and forgive me.

Arizona/Connecticut Pros & Cons

I was adamant about never going back to Arizona to live, but after our last visit out, I think I've had a change of heart.  I think I really want to go home, although I'm still a tad torn. So...I'm going to make a list of the pros and cons of each place to help me think.  The list may grow and change, but this is a start.

Arizona: Pros

FAMILY, FAMILY, FAMILY!

No humidity

Nice weather year round

Very little yard work

Sunsets

Connecticut: Pros

Lots of access to places:
New York City
Boston/Fenway Park
the ocean
Maine
New Hampshire
D.C.
Philadephia

Snow in the winter

Beautiful fall scenery

Funny accents

Friends

Arizona: Cons

Very little to do without having to drive far

Boring

Hot (sometimes)

No snow, therefore, no fun winter clothing

Connecticut: Cons

HUMIDITY

HOT

No central a/c in lots of places

YARD WORK: mowing the lawn way too much

Raking leaves in the fall
 

Peaches: Another First

Tonight Kathryn was in "Kid Jail" and I was sitting next to her Pack & Play eating one of the peaches we picked yesterday.  She kept grabbing at the plate of sliced peaches and whining.  The peaches were soft, so I bit off a tiny piece and gave it to her.  She seemed to enjoy it and I gave her a few more pieces.  It was her first real solid food.

Millions of Peaches...Peaches for Me

Today was Gangy's last day in Connecticut.  It was a very warm and muggy day, but we went to the orchard anyway to go pick peaches.  Once we got there, it wasn't as bad outside as we thought.  It sprinkled a little, which actually felt good.  Kathryn was happy in her stroller as Gangy and I searched for peaches.  We found some good ones and also purchased some fresh plums and blueberries, which were AMAZING!  I picked up some corn and tomatoes too and I'm sure they won't disappoint.  I got a few pictures with my cell phone.  I brought the camera, but stupid me left the memory card in the computer. :-(  I can't wait to take Kathryn back in the fall to pick apples and pumpkins!

Once we were done, we dropped the produce off at the house and headed to The Vanilla Bean Cafe in Pomfret.  Mom loves the root beer there.  Unfortunately, it was packed, so we decided to head home and try a food truck near my house we've been curious about.  Turns out it was a good choice.  It's just a little trailer, but the food is excellent.  I got a really good meatloaf sandwich and mom got a good sandwich called the "Fat Bastid" (yes, that's how they spelled it).  We also got some fried pickles.

We were going to head over to the St. James bazaar tonight, but it was raining, so we stayed in.

Gangy and Kate

She was all smiles in her stroller.

Wearing the new hat Gangy  bought.

My Beauty

Kathryn's hair is coming in so nicely.  I'm hoping this is a sign she may have inherited the Isbell thickness when it comes to hair.  I was practically bald at her age.  I may be biased, but I really think she is a beautiful girl.  I love her eyes.

Flip Flopaholic

No matter what I do, Kathryn always gravitates towards my flip flops and what's the first thing she does?  Sticks them directly into her mouth!  Gross!

Kid Jail

I cannot believe how much Kathryn is growing up.  She seems to change everyday.  Each day is full of new discoveries and confidence in her abilities.  I have to say, she's a quick learner.  While in Arizona, she started trying to feed herself little crackers.  It was a little awkward the first day, but the second day she got even better and mastered it pretty quickly (although sometimes she'll still have one stuck in the palm of her hand without realizing it).  The same happened with crawling.  Once she started practicing, she took off and hasn't stopped.  It's the same story with standing.  She pulls herself up with confidence and yesterday she even stood for a moment by herself without hanging on to anything.  I fear she'll be walking soon and then life as we know will be over.  It was basically over when she started crawling.  She wants to get into everything. We really need to childproof the living room.  She loves the pellet stove and the speakers and that can be trouble!  Because of her new-found (and constant) mobility, she sometimes has to go to "Kid Jail" (i.e. the playpen). She has tons of toys in there, so she actually likes it. I think she also likes pulling herself to check out what's going on with the rest of the world.  I love her more and more everyday, which I didn't think was possible, and I'm really trying to remember that she will be all grown up before I know it.  To quote Darius Rucker, "It won't be like this for long."

Cutest inmate in Kid Jail

Big Blue Eyes

Yesterday, in Kid Jail

Lovin' my time in jail.

Sometimes I want out too!

Learning to Feed Herself

Kathryn got a new utensil that helps her feed herself.  It looks like the tip of a ring pop that you dunk in the food and she puts it in her mouth.  She loves it, but this was the result of yesterday's attempt with prunes.  Hmm...

Same Age

I was looking through my baby book today to see when I got my first tooth (Kathryn has yet to do so, but has been drooling and teething like crazy for months!), and I found a picture of me taken at 8 1/2 months old in August of 1980.  We just had Kathryn's 8 1/2 month pictures taken in August of 2012.  It was interesting to see the similarities.  Sometimes I think she looks just like me and other times, not so much. One thing's for sure though: She's a whole lot cuter!  I sure wish I had a picture of Jared at the same age to compare Daddy and Daughter.

Megan (Mom) 8 1/2 months old: August 1980

Kathryn (daughter) 8 1/2 months old: August 2012

On a side note: According to my baby book, I got my first tooth around 7 months old, so hopefully she'll be getting hers soon.  She is technically only 7 1/2 months old since she came 4 weeks early, so we'll see if she's on track with her mom.  The baby book also said I started walking at 9 1/2 months old, so we're gonna be in for it soon!

Home

Kathryn's adjusted back to Eastern time pretty easily...a lot easier than I'd expected. Before our Arizona trip, Jared and I were both very concerned it would screw everything up with her.  So far though, she's done pretty darn well, except for tonight. She had a perfect day in regards to napping and went to sleep around 7:30. We thought we were all set for the night and were watching "Transformers" with my mom (she's never seen it and we had to show her what an excellent movie it is).  Well, around 8:15 she started crying. Jared went and got her.  We gave her some Tylenol in case her teeth were hurting her.  She did this last night as well, but went back to sleep after about a half hour.  It is now 9:19.  She's been up for over an hour, laughing, jumping and just being silly.  We thought she was ready to go back down a little while ago, so we tried putting her back to sleep, but no luck.  She's sitting in the living room while we watch the Red Sox/Twins game (we had to turn the movie off because she was distracting us) and she's just playing away.  Hmm...wonder how long this will go on. I snapped some shots of her playing with my camera.  I apologize for the crudity of the quality.

On a different note, yesterday, we think she might've said her first word.  She was in her high chair and was all fussy, yelling at us (me and my mom).  Then, clear as day she shouted out "Ma Ma".  My mom and I both looked at each like, "What?  Did you just hear that?"  I'm sure it was just an accident, but it still sounded so sweet and I'll pretend it was her first word.

8 1/2 Months Old

Gangy was in town visiting so we decided to do Kathryn's 8-9 months pictures so she could be included.  Kathryn was a trooper and did a great job!